Metabolism Matters (Part 2)

Jo Rushton

August 9, 2012

Jo Rushton brings her knowledge and passion for all things C.H.E.K – Corrective Holistic Exercise Kinesiology – to the subject of metabolism. She breaks down the three distinct metabolic types (which one are you?) and runs through the dos and don’ts for each, plus more. Jo is a CHEK Level III Holistic Lifestyle Coach whose vision is to “facilitate the liberation of mind, body and spirit through an expanded awareness of the choices one makes, moment to moment”.

For me there’s a few foundational principles when it comes to choosing our foods and metabolic or metabolism and metabolic typing which is what I’m gonna talk about. Our metabolism for me is more than just you know, we tend to talk about metabolism in terms of a weight loss and I think that we again shift the focus too much towards weight loss and away from well-being because essentially we’re looking for metabolism that’s going to function and give us an optimal experience of well-being. Not just the weight loss. I mean after all how many times have we seen really skinny people, lean and we go, God I want their metabolism. What was their constitution of health? And i think that’s more certain from my perspective, that’s what I look and that’s what’s important to me. So there’s a few foundational principles that I’ve certainly learned from my journey of experimenting from a lot of different diets which I think is a common thing amongst us all. And I’ve come to realize, gosh I have so much to share with you I get so excited. I get this, don’t forget to say this, don’t forget to say that… And I’m like okay, give me a second, Lord, I’ll get there! Okay!

The first thing I want to share is that I have been on a roller coaster so many of us will be familiar with. And my roller coaster has been weight. Its been a journey of learning how to love myself. That’s really what my journey has been about and food has played a huge role in that. And along this road I was taking myself through bodybuilding and my last year of bodybuilding I had just been introduced to the check Institute and so with this sort of journey, a chapter closing and a new chapter opening. So I had achieve my goal, I have shedded all the weight that I put on as a teenager and you know my brothers used to call me thunder thighs and you know, elephant legs. I had finally come to this point where, wow I I look so different! And then of course as you mentioned with any athlete, I experienced the same thing. I stopped you know, training intensely and I stopped the whole dieting routine and the weight went back on. And I just went, but I just went through all that to have this amazing body and now I can’t keep it. And so I thought to myself there’s gotta be you know, there’s gotta be a better way. I probably wasn’t thinking back then but my natural path has taken me on a journey of experience. Experiential. And one of three or four principles that I want to share with you is around food. No matter what diets we choose to encourage a healthy metabolic rate or system. Unless we are making good quality choices, then we’re not doing anything to support our metabolism.

So I’m gonna talk to you tonight about metabolic typing and there are three basic metabolic types. You have what they call a protein type, a carbohydrate type or mixed type. And what I want to be clear of here with you is that I don’t pertain to any one discipline. I have taken what works for me from a whole number of different disciplines. So I don’t adhere to the complete template of metabolic typing but I take from metabolic typing what I know works for me. The core elements around how we make our choices, food being one of them. If we don’t qualify the source of our food, it doesn’t matter if it’s a protein, if it’s a carbohydrate or if it’s a fat. If we don’t qualify the source, the quality of it, how do you know that that’s quality protein? How do you know that’s a quality carb? How do you know that’s a quality fat? For me that’s step one. You need to qualify the quality of your food groups. Okay? And I’ll go into a little bit more about that in a moment.

Another foundational principle for me is that I have experimented with metabolic typing and I do believe that there is an enormous amount of credit to be given to the fact that we are all unique. We all have our own biochemistry. Just as we all sit here with me in a different color hair, different color eyes, we will have the same organs but if we opened each other up you’d find a slightly different size, in slightly different position. So we all have our own unique chemistry. And when you’re choosing your foods and you’re choosing the ratio, I.E. how much? Each of these what I call macronutrients which is your protein, carbohydrates and your fat. When you’re starting to choose amongst these, step 1 is that there has to be quality there. Okay? That the raw product that you’re working with. And why I make mention to this is that let’s say for example the cell is a carbohydrate type. Which simply means if I was to qualify these three different types for you.

Metabolic typing, just to give you a little bit of history, was designed by a number of scientists and physicians in a lot of different disciplines over a period of now about 70 years. You can track it back in it has the works of Weston A. Price. Which was, he was a dentist in Cleveland Ohio and he went off tracking around the world for about 10 years. Visiting all these what he called primitive cultures. And he bought his research back as to what was the fundamental foods that were keeping these various cultures healthy when they didn’t have access to any privileges at the western society. So they were still very much on their own foods. And metabolic typing came about from a whole host. Dentists, surgeons, doctors all contributing their research to their piece of the puzzle to give about how the human body works. And a guy called William Wilcott kinda picked up and ran with all of this information. He started to develop a new look, particularly at the metabolic systems of the body.

Metabolic typing today is evaluated across sort of three major metabolic systems of the body which your endocrine system otherwise known as your hormonal system. Your autonomic nervous system and your oxidative system. So we have without getting, you know, overly complicated with it. We have these three systems within the body and when you’re determining whether or not you’re more of a protein type or more of a carb type or more the mixed type, it really depends where you hold your dominance in these 3 systems. So as an example, if you are a protein type that simply means that your biochemistry is predisposed to metabolizing, turning the nutrients of protein and fat into energy, into fuel, really efficiently. Our metabolism and biochemistry is developed by a number of different factors or influenced through a number of different factors. The environment around us. What is available in nature and we adapt. You know we’ve adapted over thousands of years. So you have a protein type who as I said simply means that if you are a protein type and we’ll get into how do you know that because I can hear you go, which one am I? I wanna know now! And what do I need?

So if you’re a protein type, it simply means that you are really efficient at converting the energy in the nutrients within protein and fat into energy. And that you’re not so efficient at turning carbohydrates into energy. And when I say you’re not very efficient it means that you do it too quickly. Okay? When you’re a protein type you’re a fast oxidator. It means that you, if I was, I’m actually a protein type. So if I for example sat down to a meal that was dominated by a carbohydrate food group, in that meal my metabolism word turn that into fuel so quickly and use it that I’ll be hungry again very soon after that meal. So I’m left feeling empty on a full stomach. Yeah? Anyone ever had that kind of experience where you if kinda eaten and 20-30 minutes later I’m still hungry but if you look at what I just ate, a bowl of pasta. And so, this you know, this experiment of the different food groups. So if your card type as an example it simply means that you are a slow oxidizer. Which means that your metabolism converts carbohydrates officially because it does it slowly. Okay?

So there’s a number of influencing factors that come into what type you are. Okay? Your hereditary make-up comes into it. Even whether or not you male or female comes into it. What your endocrine system and your hormonal system. Your autonomic nervous system, whether or not you’re more parasympathetic or sympathetic. Does everyone know what your autonomic nervous system? I like to keep things as simple analogies as possible. Think of your autonomic nervous system having two pathways. One pathway being a sympathetic and it carries the traits of your fight or flight. Okay? And then your other system, your other pathway, your parasympathetic, what we call you rest and digest. So it carries the traits of the opposite when you’re wound up. You’re nice and relaxed and chilled out. All the qualities that we want when we’re sitting down to eat, okay? Because when we’re in the sympathetic pathway and we’re way too wound up, our digestive system turns itself down and it’s not working as effectively. Okay? Because after all if you’re being chased by a lion, will you really worried about digesting the steak you’ve just eaten? What’s priority? So, that’s you know, a snippet as to the sympathetic and parasympathetic. The resilience that I’ve built which you know you could describe as my constitution of health.

I’ve done over a period of time by simply becoming more and more aware and once I had dropped away the shoulds shouldn’t and following this and following that and started to listen to what my body was sharing with me. I began to realize that to wake up in the morning as I was doing having a big bowl of fruit and some fresh yogurt, just wasn’t doing it for me. But that’s what, everywhere I read, best way to start your day. And I was just like my day will be over by 10 o’clock because I was so tired and hungry. So I thought and then of course to even think about giving a go of metabolic typing was to go against all these beliefs I had around. You know? Because I followed the same don’t eat fat it’ll make me fat, you know and it was a big leap of faith to go, well you know what, what do I got to lose because this isn’t working. And that’s what I kept coming back to.

You know if you’re willing to find out which way do I go? Which way do I go? I don’t know. So just choose one and see what happens. Because you’ll find out real quick whether or not if it was the optimal or the sub-optional. Because your symptoms will start to get worse or better. So either way you’ll find out which way you need to go. So you can’t not win. You know? So that’s what I started to do and I took that leap of faith and I went ok, put aside, you know, the morning ritual of my nice big bowl of tropical fruit and low-fat yogurt. Just have to laugh at what I do then and compared to what I do now. And I put all that aside and I said okay, I’m gonna have eggs and you know, some avocado and you know, a piece of whole grain toast. And I just couldn’t see the difference and that’s how I started to experiment. You ready?

healthexcel.com which is where you can take your metabolic type. Question it. If you start to answer these questions from a place where you are not yet truly in tuned with how you’re feeling and you start answering the questions from here and not from here. You’re gonna come out with a false positive. Okay? Because these questions are really in-depth around the physiology of your body and you need to be having a deep intimate relationship with your self. To understand what the biofeedback is that your body is giving you. To give yourself an accurate feedback. I take two philosophies in my approach to eating. I take the philosophies of metabolic typing and I match those with the findings of Weston A. Price and all of his research. And if you want to get into a little bit more of what that is then lookup www.westonaprice.org. It’s an amazing library of information. It takes you back to the absolute soul of where food nutrition and where the life force of where we get our food comes from. You have these three systems balanced. So you’re probably starting to get a bit of an idea now of the three types. You have a protein type. Does really well on proteins and fat. You have a carb type. Does really well on carbohydrates. Then you have a mixed type and a mixed oxidative type means that they do really quite well half-and-half. Kind of like 50-50. But the the tricky bit about mixed types is that their needs can change at different times the day. So their ratio and this is another key thing around metabolic typing. So many people I talk to who are into this metabolic type, nigga yeah I’m a protein type I eat nothing but protein. That’s not metabolic typing. Okay? Metabolic typing clearly states that every single meal you have, even a snack, needs to consist of protein, carbohydrate and fat.

In each meal the only thing that changes between the different types are the ratio. Okay? So it’s not that just because I’m a protein type I sit down to a meal and I don’t consume carbohydrates. I do. Proteins are anything with eyes plus eggs. That’s where protein is. Eyes plus eggs. That’s what a protein is. Okay? A carbohydrate is simply everything without eyes. Cheese comes from an animal so then we need to sort of to, you know, qualify where do things like dairy sit. Okay? Dairy sits in the fat section. Okay? Fat and protein. It’s simply, you know, so you might be thinking, so how do you know that a legume is not a protein? When you look at the breakdown of the food composition of that particular food, all foods contain protein, fat and carbohydrate. Okay? What donates whether or not it sits as a protein or carbohydrate is what is it dominant in. Is it dominant in a carbohydrate? Or is it dominant in protein? Legumes, when you look at the breakdown is dominant in carbohydrates. Okay? So it falls under a carbohydrate. I just wanna hone back in if I may very quickly on the vegetarian because it is a challenge for vegetarians. And if I can give any advice to a vegetarian who is just not ready and never will be in their eyes to you know, consume meat. Then what they need to really try to do is make sure they’re getting adequate amounts of vitamin A&E. And that is challenging when it comes from animals. Vitamin D, the old myth around the sun. The truth is you need be out in the mid-day sun when it is at its highest point for two hours to convert into vitamin D. Now it’s not really practical for a lot of people.

They use the metabolic typing check sheet which is a single sheet where you write down what you eat and then you have three columns. You basically rate yourself against how you’re feeling physically. How you’re feeling mentally and how you’re feeling generally, well being, emotionally about 20 to 30 minutes after your meal. It’s doing two things. It’s getting you to stop and become present and it’s getting you to drop in and ask, how am I feeling after that meal? Am I feeling tired, sluggish. Do I want to nap? Do I feel wired? Bit jittery? Bit nervous? Do I feel hungry again? How is it that I’m feeling? And right there you have what you’ve just eaten and that’s your template to start playing with. So you’ve ticked all the good reactions. You know that there was something right in that ratio and I’ve got to try to start mimicking this again. This template, this is a template that works for me. How can I keep that same template but choose different foods. If you’re ticking all the bad reactions, well template’s not working. What might it be? Have a look at what that meal ratio was. Was it high in protein and fat and low in carb? Swap it around in your next meal or swap that next day, time that you had the mail, swap that around. See if you even a bit closer to mimicking the same environment. Okay? So you’re keeping your food times the same and swap that around and see if you feel any different by having more carb and less protein and fat. Because, you know some typical symptoms of somebody who’s a carb type and who is eating too much fat and protein is that they will become very tired and sluggish very quickly after the meal.

I for example who’s a protein type who does really well converting protein and fat. If I have too much carbohydrate in my meal and it depends on the type of carbohydrate. If it’s high sugar, I’m climbing the walls. I’m manic and then I crash. I’m like, I got nothing left in me. If I have a type of carbohydrate that’s a long burning. Like sitting down to bowl of pasta, I just feel stuffed after about three spoonfuls, and then heavy and I wanna fall asleep. So there’s so many nuances that, you know, and variables that that can change the experience like that. And the most important thing rises to to keep this process easy and simple for yourself. And the best way to do that is just to keep coming back to how you feel. How do you feel? You know how you feel when you’ve had a few too many glasses wine, don’t you? Why couldn’t you ask the same thing about what you just sat and eaten? And how might I change that? But I come back to the core, core principle. Is that it doesn’t matter if you are swapping from a protein to a carbohydrate if the quality of that food isn’t good quality in the first place. So a quality carbohydrate is not our process pastors and white flower and breads of today. You are never going to get a realistic biofeedback by putting that sort of food into your body. We’re not designed for it.

I’ll leave you with 3 tips to speed up your metabolism. Okay? Clean up your food, number one. You want to speed up your metabolism, you need to take the toxins out of your diet. Toxins are stored in your fat cells. It’s part of what your fat does for you. It stores toxins to keep them away from the organs. Your body has a hierarchy. Okay? I can chop your arm off but if I took your liver out and didn’t replace it, you’re dead. Okay? Has a hierarchy. So one of the many roles that fat plays in the body is to store the toxins away from the vital organs. So to the degree in which you’re toxic, your body ain’t gonna say goodbye the fat. It has a priority. Okay? So step one, cleanup. Your diet through really looking at the quality of the source. Okay? Then step 2. Start to listen apply all the principles duly as I was mentioning earlier. And then you start to have a greater relationship with your body in a way that you can start to interpret what it is sharing with you. And then you can start looking at applying metabolic typing because you’ve got a platform that’s giving you relevant information and not smeared smokes and mirrors.